What is striking is that even in more inspired corners of contemporary academia, in the wake of a better understanding of the ways and means through which traditional disciplines construct themselves and their objects, thereís been such a lack of curiosity as to the ways and means, the shapes and forms that a more self-critical notion of scholarship might imply. The odd neologism aside, even the more productive and politicized academics flatly assume the way they structure their writing and thinking to follow from whatever theyíre trying to get across, and then leave it at that. Unless Iím very mistaken, the basic idea - in the best of cases - has been to reconstruct the practice of the critic-intellectual while continuing to accept, pretty much tel quel, the same old discursive procedures - and itís not so much that they are prim, bookish, labored and long-winded, but that they remain windows to the world, i.e. monomaniacal, naÔvely commonsensical and matter-of-fact, and plain desperate to be taken very, very seriously.
From the moment one regards oneís objects of study as irretrievably enmeshed with the discursive practice that is applied to them, the conventions and basic assumptions underlying said discursive practice, one would think, would come under increased scrutiny, and one or two risks might be taken in an effort to think a little further. But "taking risks" implies the risk of looking faintly ridiculous from time to time, and it is currently very difficult to overestimate the professionís reluctance to part with the more sheltering and auratic aspects of literary scholarship.
More to the point; when it comes to writing, for example - what is really at stake in having a "topic", in the usual sense of the term, organizing the links and textual peripheries surrounding it. Does the authorís favorite point have to be proven to the reader at all costs. Must a text declare its function and intention, and then politely do all it can to avoid disappointing anyone, or does it stand to gain from expectations being hopelessly overheated. Must a text be structured in a manner that draws attention away from the gaps and excesses that question its disciplinary premises. Could it attain a density that escapes the limits and the grip of the authorís secure learning and insight, or must one always entertain the reader on familiar home ground. Do all links within the text have to be (explicitly) justified - and if so, do they all demand explanations in the same terms. Can a text be generous in the scope of interdependent themes and references it admits (to), or must every potential reader be expected to be directly interested in the topic to the point of reading on and on no matter what. Must the conditions of the textís production be omitted - and if not, must they be accounted for in such a way that distinctions between author, text and context remain crystal-clear at all times. Is the framework of the x-hundred page book, whether an oeuvre or a collection-of-essays, still worthy of its teleological standing. And so on and so forth, etc, etc.
My text addresses the issue of Orientalism, using the example of Iran, and briefly traces the history of lettered Geneva, along with the particular "network of value-laden arguments" (Eisenman) that allows local scholars to think of themselves as they do and keep a straight face while theyíre at it. And it insists on a number of manners of doing, on matters of ceremony and conduct, going from everyday social routines to (the consumption of) architecture to academic prose, hinting at possible links with the current production and organization of knowledge. Moreover, I tried to come up with a structure that would actually impose a manner of writing that is at least in some ways blatantly inconsistent and anti-programmatic. So god knows my text has no model to suggest, but in terms of the priorities stated above, it does hope to raise one or two questions, and in a most obvious and unguarded way, marking an impatience to start talking about new and better ideas with whomever is interested.
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